Alzheimer’s Disease: 2018 Facts and Figures

Alzheimer’s Disease is a degenerative brain disease that is causes dementia. While dementia can occur for other reasons, Alzheimer’s is the reason behind the vast majority of dementia cases, which causes difficulties with memory, language, problem-solving, and other cognitive skills. These problems make it increasingly difficult or even impossible for these individuals to perform everyday activities. In the latter stages of the disease, neurons in a person’s brain are damaged or destroyed to the extent that a person becomes unable to control basic bodily functions like walking or swallowing. Ultimately, Alzheimer’s Disease is fatal.

The Alzheimer’s Association recently released its 2018 report, which gives updated facts and figures about the disease. Currently, there is no pharmaceutical product that stops or slows down the progression of the disease. However, there are medicines that can at least temporarily improve symptoms, although their effectiveness may vary from one person to the next. There also are non-pharmacologic therapies that may improve quality of life for Alzheimer’s patients, although they do not cure or stop the progression of the disease.

The numbers of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease is continuing to grow rapidly, along with the size and proportion of the American population that is age 65 and older. About one in ten Americans who are age 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s Disease, which is an estimated 5.7 million individuals. Eighty-one percent of the Americans with Alzheimer’s dementia are age 75 or older, with 37% being age 85 or older, and 44% being between the ages of 75 and 84.

Planning for your family’s future is not an easy process and involves many different options, including creating an estate plan and ensuring that other legal documents are in place. We are here to answer your questions and calm any concerns that you may have, in hopes of creating the estate plan that is most beneficial for you. Here at Legacy Law Center, we know how to represent your interests and work toward a plan for your family’s future. Contact us today at (734) 995-2383 so that you can meet with us and learn how we can help you.